Bucharest, Romania – The reba of the presidential elections of Romania next month will be a high -risk test for the democracy of the European Union member after the vote annulled last year triggered the deepest political crisis Since 1989.
The Constitutional Court of Romania annulled the elections on December 6 after the extreme right Outsider Calin Georgescu First round surveys surpassed. The decision followed the accusations of electoral violations and a Russian campaign Promoting Georgescu, who is now under investigation and forbidden of repetition. Moscow has denied him to make him.
“What happened last year was very serious and … at that time, completely anti -democratic,” said Elena Lasconi, who was second to enter the runoff last year and participates in the new elections, said Associated Press. “I was not justified, in my opinion.”
Once a communist state until the end of the Cold War, Romania has spent decades trying to build strong democratic institutions. But last year’s annulled elections destroyed public trust, and could have been repairing the damage years.
“I think that public confidence in political parties, in public institutions, in the state was generally quite low,” says Septimius Parvu, coordinator of the electoral program at Expert Forum, a group of prodemocratic experts. “This even more confidenced.
Many feel that the Romanian authorities have not explained enough what happened last year, which has left voters to wonder “if this will be the final choice,” said Plvu.
To complicate the possibilities of Lasconi in El Rerun, his party of the Union of Save Romania, or USR, withdrew his support for her last week in favor of the mayor of Head Bucharest, Nicusor Dan, claiming that he has a greater probability of winning the presidency. Lasconi described colleagues who moved against her as “coup conspirators.”
She said she joins the chaos following last year’s electoral debacle, which has already left many disappointed Romanians. “None of the state institutions have assured us that we will have fair elections,” he said. “People said on the streets:” Our votes don’t count. “
Cristian Andrei, a political consultant based in Bucharest, says that there is an “underlying social discontent that could exploit again” unless political parties and candidates begin to “talk to all segments of society.”
“The underlying theme in Romania is the generalized public dissatisfaction with the political class,” he said. “It is important to continue remembering the public what happened: that we face a campaign that tried to kidnap Romania’s democracy using unorthodox and illegal means.”
The surprising rise of Georgescu, from the surveys in a single digit to lead the first round, surprised many observers. The friendly candidate with Russia, who has praised fascist figures from Romania’s past, not only of bewildered Brussels but also raised urgent questions about foreign interference in European elections.
Like other EU countries, the extreme right vote in recent years has grown in Romania, fed by a generalized feeling against the establishment. After Georgescu was prohibited by the reba, the extreme right of Romania, which has approximately one third of the legislative seats, hastened to find a successor.
Uploaded George Simion, The leader of the Alliance for the Unit of the Romanians, or Aur, who arrived fourth in last year’s race and then supported Georgescu. The second largest party in the Legislature, Aur, proclaims to represent “family, nation, faith and freedom”.
Simion has received criticism in the past due to anti-EU rhetoric and comments against continuous help to Ukraine, a neighboring country, which like Moldova, is forbidden to enter security concerns.
Romania’s decision to cancel the elections, and the prohibition of Georgescu’s candidacy, has been strongly criticized by US vice president JD Vance, ELON ALMIZCLE and Moscow, who publicly supported his candidacy for repetition.
“Geopolitically, we are in a very complicated situation,” Lasconi warned.
Eleven candidates participate in the first round, which is scheduled for May 4. If no candidate earns more than 50% of the ballots, a runoff will take place on May 18.
Other key candidates include Dan, the mayor of Bucharest who runs independently under the slogan of the “Honest Romania” campaign, and Crin Antonescu, which is supported by the Romania ruling coalition and runs on a “Romania Forward” platform.
Victor Ponta, a former prime minister between 2012 and 2015 who resigned after a fatal fire of nightclubs, runs into a “Romania First” ticket of Maga style and boasts of having close links with the administration of the president of the United States, Donald Trump.
After last year’s events, local surveys data must be taken with caution, given concerns about politicization. Even so, a median surveys suggest that a runoff could face the extreme right simion against Dan, Ponta or Antonescu.
A presidency of Simion could threaten the unity of the EU as the war progresses in neighboring Ukraine. This is aggravated by Trump’s attempts to forge closer links with Russian President Vladimir Putin while looking for the end of the war in Ukraine.
Following the annulled elections, the role of social networks allegedly performed in Georgescu’s success was under intense scrutiny when declassified Romanian intelligence pointed out the foreign interference coordinated through the Chinese Video Video Exchange Platform Tiktok.
The case highlighted the threat that large social media platforms can represent for liberal democracies, and the EU commission responded by Lunch a continuous problem in ticts To determine if he violated the EU digital services law by not dealing with the risks for Romania’s elections.
Tiktok said he dismantled the undercover influence networks aimed at the Romanians in December, including more than 27,000 accounts, which published mass comments through a “false commitment provider” promoted by the Aur and Georgescu party, “in an attempt to manipulate the discourse of the Romanian elections.” It also eliminated more than 1,100 accounts that pass through presidential candidates.
Tiktok declared that he has taken measures to protect Romania’s electoral integrity, including the expansion of his Romanian speech content moderators, work with a local group of verification of facts to combat misinformation and tools in the application that link with official electoral information.
However, concerns about social networks have led to what some critics see as anti -democratic overreach by the Romanian central electoral office before the new vote. The office has generated recent criticism for requesting demolition of political comments online from private citizens.
Political turbulence caused great street protests and has left many uncertain and divided voters.
“Society is a bit divided, it is fragmented in some way as a reaction,” said Octavian Fre caus, a voter in Bucharest. “Only an isolated society is not influenced from the outside … we are economically and politically dependent on all.”
While Romania goes to one of his most critical elections since 1989, bets are going beyond who wins the next five -year presidency and can be seen as a referendum about democracy.
“We have been divided by more than 35 years,” Lasconi said. “Now Romania is not only divided into two: Romania is destroyed in many pieces.”
